Before we get into this, I want you to sit down and be prepared for a bittersweet ending. You see, this isn’t one of those blog posts where I encourage every writer to keep fighting, this is a heartfelt and open case for why I may have to quit. I feel it’s about time we had a little conversation about how utterly life destroying the screenwriting dream can be.

On the occasion of finishing the first pages of yet another unsolicited and highly speculative script, I ask myself, “Does the world really need one more sample of my writing? My voice must be known by now to everyone within a tri-county area...” 

In a brief and uncommon moment of clarity, the answer is a resounding, “NO.” As I glance at the Save The Pixels Federation pamphlet, images of baby seals being clubbed to death fill my head.

There's not a great deal to report this month and there will be no newsletter at the end of June as I'm going to be unavailable during that time. This also means Monthly Mutiny will be running for two months this time round. Sign-ups and script uploads have been a little slow lately, but there's some great success stories I'll get to later in this blog.

Okay Wunderkins, think quick: what’s the most annoying movie archetype?

The sort that - after hearing a character utter their first lines - you become painfully aware you’re trapped in a theater with a walking, talking cliché; one you’ve encountered countless times before.  A 2d cardboard cutout with zero surprises up their sleeve.  One glimpse, and you’ve got their every move sussed out.  So why are they (and the film’s producers) now wasting your precious time?

As some of you know, I’ve been writing now for about 10 years. I have discovered several key things in those years and something new I just learned recently.

As a writer, I have the ability to create my own world. I’ve done just that in several of my works. I’ve had interest in those works and I’ve even had some options executed. Also as a writer, I can determine at what level I want to run at.

You nasty, filthy pervert. No, not in the Hentai way.

But remember the good old days when 2D Animation was a viable, awe-inspiring art form –just starting to trickle to the bleeding edge? 

I mean, way back in the 1970-80s: prehistoric times to Millennials, of course:

So, last month, I asked everyone to share the love and talk to their friends about Script Revolution, which I didn’t really see happen anywhere online but something happened somewhere behind the scenes. We saw 90 new members join up this month, the most since the site started. Thank you for those who are spreading the good word. A huge number of hits came in from this excellent article "Lessons Learned From Trying to Break Into Professional...

This week has been a turbulent one in screenwriting. You could easily have missed it. Entwined within the drama was a historical turning point in the screenwriting world and what looks like the beginning of a new fight between creatives and capitalists. We have entered a new age of artificial intelligence that’s going to affect us in ways we never imagined how.

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over, hoping for a different result¹. This aphorism, or meme, as we call them now, applies to writers, and in particular to screenwriters. In my blog post exploring the theme of "Never give up", I made the case for battling on, since practice makes perfect and everybody knows that overnight success takes decades, especially for writers. However, my obsessive persistence tells me that - to steal a cliché so worn it's positively polished – you don't have to be mad to be a screenwriter, but it helps.

The latest nugget of scriptwriting wisdom goes like this, “Write something new - Something never before seen.”

I have read (or heard?) there are really only about 5 or 6 basic stories.

Because I was hung over that day in class and unable to take proper notes, I’ll make something up: Boy Meets Girl, Boy Loses Girl, Monster Eats Boy, The Dog Ate My Homework and Murder Most Foul.

Last month it was 1000 scripts and this month it's 500 members. Alex Norman was the person to trip the counter over to this milestone. Alex is a film fan who's studying...

What "trimming" an Airplane has taught me about, Screenwriting.  More than you can imagine, and, no, the action's were not similarly executed. However, both had a direct impact on my "attitude." Let me explain- 

Over ten years ago my serious run toward a Private Pilot's license was executed in full stride.  At a time in my life, (before marriage - before children) the responsibilities in my life were making certain I had money to pay for rent and food.

A long, long time ago, in a ‘burb quite far away...

Sat an impressionable young girl; who knows how old?  Thirteen perhaps. Maybe twelve.

A life-long tomboy, she was a voracious reader as well.  One whom her much older cousin (theoretically, let’s call him “Roger”) knew was into tall tales. For instance, Star Trek and Tom Baker/Peter Davidson’s Dr. Who.

One day, Roger handed the girl some magazines.  Their titles? Amazing Stories and Analog.

Within those pages, she found the literary equivalent of the Holy Grail – a treasure...

I'm always suspicious of the advice to "Never give up", and on a bad day, I fear the exhortation is delivered with a vicious irony, the smile of encouragement hiding a secret desire to inflict further pain on the rambling deluded fool who thinks he's A Writer. If it's painfully obvious to everyone except your Mum that your screenplays aren't up to scratch, isn't it kinder to be dealt some incisive coverage from a battle-scarred pro to put you out of your misery? Excruciating sex scene, anyone? Ouch, add the writer to your "Do Not Date" list, and, warming to the theme of severe mental...

Major congrats to Script Revolution member Pete Barry who's currently penning the new Robin Hood Stand-Alone Drama "Marian" for Sony, a project which has now attached Margot Robbie to star. More details can be found in The Hollywood Reporter article here. But, before that, we highly recommend any aspiring filmmakers check out our...

Ready to digest an immutable Fact of Life? Here’s one tasty treat: 

The world of screenwriting bursts with vibrant contradiction.  Downright Schizophrenic levels of it, no less.

Talk to anyone who’s dipped their toe in the murky waters of film.  They’ll scramble to tell you what lurks just below the surface… Sharks, of the Format Nazi kind.

Hand to heart. We’ll swear on our latest copy of Final Draft; it’s true. The screenwriting world is full of BS.  Excuse me, make that “rules.”

Don’t get me wrong (or quote this out of...

Imagine you fire up Final Draft one day to find you’d been locked out of using it or opening your screenplays. Picture logging into Celtx to learn your account had been terminated and your drafts removed. Envisage firing up your computer to discover your DropBox account had deleted all your working files. This nightmare scenario may sound crazy but, if you are a writer dependent on Amazon Studios, it might be a very real possibility — and you may need to jump ship as soon as you can

Last month it was 1000 scripts and this month it's 500 members. Alex Norman was the person to trip the counter over to this milestone. Alex is a film fan who's studying screenwriting craft and hoping to enter some screenwriting comps. I say good luck to you, Alex, you were certainly a blessing signing up here. We've seen a real surge in sign-ups lately so thank you to all who are spreading the good word about Script Revolution.

Out here is a pool. A deep, deep pool. As screenplay writers, we're all swimming in it. Current stats have our population at 15,000 or more. Schooling in this pool is various sized fish. Most of us, guppy’s also known as amateur writers. Here we are, swimming around doing a complete reversal of what it means to fish. Instead of an angler working to catch that one big fish among us in a school of thousands, we are the thousands, all of us small, trying to catch that one big angler.

We're all looking for something out of this. Me? I started writing because I tried everything to...

I'm rather delighted to announce, assuming you haven't heard already, that we hit 1000 scripts uploaded during this month. That's freaking amazing, and I have admit I did run around the house doing a little dance when it happened. I know I keep saying thank you, but seriously, thank you from the bottom of my heart for helping turn this from a little unknown website to a full blown movement. Since launch, Script Revolution has had an average of over 150 screenplays uploaded per month and readers have downloaded an average of over 400 scripts per week!

Which script should you write next? Would people want to read it? Is the idea bad? Do you have the skills needed? Are you really just wasting your time… and life?

Look, I don’t know a single aspiring screenwriter who doesn’t have those questions running through their mind all the time. Creative pursuits are, by their nature, a massive mind-fuck. It gets even tougher when you tie success with money, fame, and respect. You worry. You fret. You judge yourself. You let other people judge you. It’s hard not to default to one of three chains of thought; “I can do this.”, “don’t know if I’...

Before anyone might actually read the first page of your script, there are three hurdles your work must clear to pass and I'm talking about Title, Logline and Synopsis.

I have 27 scripts (shorts, features, pilots) posted here on Script Revolution — Thank you CJ for the opportunity to strut my stuff and/or show the world my deficiencies, whichever the case may be. Beyond the obviously benefit of a free public venue, there is more --

As you are aware, this site counts “views.” A “view” here defined as after reading the Title and Logline, someone is interested enough in your...

WOOHOO! Script Revolution had it's 1000th script uploaded to the database just 6 (and a bit) months since launch! Fantastic! Here's a big shoutout to Steve Garry who uploaded the 1000th script, Mister Buttle’s Great Odyssey. The cool thing is, Gary has been an active member and supporter of the site since day one! Thank you so much to him and all the screenwriters who've joined up so far. We can do this. We can make Script...

A film begins with a script. A statement well established on a site like this. One can make a bad movie on a good script, but never a good movie on a bad script. Thus, a lot of time and effort are used to make the script perfect. Script work is cheap compared to what it will be later when it comes to equipment and people to be organized, transported and fed.

I have the privilege of getting one of my short scripts filmed right now, this February. As a writer, working alone is common, but regarding screenplays, you have to be prepared to have your story mulled, and it is not certain...

Shoutout to Chris Keaton, a man with a whole load of short scripts on offer, who's optioned his script A Child Outside. Chris is an Air Force veteran based in Arizona and has recently started expanding his screenwriting into novel writing aswell. Well done, Chris.